The Act had its genesis in several reports and consultations:
• Home Secretary David Blunkett, Lord Chancellor Irvine of Lairg and Attorney-General Lord Goldsmith's … See more

Stop and search powers
Police "stop and search" powers are increased to include cases of suspected criminal damage in, for example, the carrying of spray … See more

The Act creates an exception to the double jeopardy rule, by providing that an acquitted defendant may be tried a second time for a serious … See more

Part 12 of the Criminal Justice Act made substantial amendments to nearly every part of sentencing practice, containing 159 sections and referring to 24 schedules. The regime set out in the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 was almost wholly … See more

The Act introduced measures to permit trial without a jury in the specific cases of complex fraud (s.43) and jury tampering (s.44), though these … See more

Bad character
The 2003 Act extensively changed the law regarding the admissibility into evidence of a defendant's … See more

Passage through Parliament
The original bill's passage through Parliament did not meet with universal approval. The legal profession and civil liberties groups were opposed to several of the measures in the Bill, though most of them were … See more